Game 6, Home Game 32: Minnesota 86, Indiana 81
1. Nothing To Lose But A Reputation For Stupidity
The Timberwolves story in Tuesday’s Star Tribune, entitled “Wittman still seeks right answer,” went into some detail about how the coach of this franchise had tried everything– “tweaked and re-tweaked the lineup, shuffled the rotation…called the team out and kept it behind the scenes… been upset and understanding” — and yet nothing had worked.
But anyone who has been watching this ballclub with at least one eye open knew that there was one thing Wittman and his associates higher up the corporate ladder hadn’t tried. Not only that, but it was the most logical and unimpeachable thing they could have done in the wake of this team’s methodical meltdown and nonchalant ineptitude since the All Star break: Play the kids. More specifically, play current rookies Randy Foye and Craig Smith and last year’s top draft pick Rashad McCants together with superstar Kevin Garnett. Play them as long as possible, regardless of whether the squad was tied with 1:30 to play or down 40 midway through the third period. Let them discover a common rhythm, sift into roles, and, for all concerned, discover exactly what kind of clay there was to work with before it was too late for anything but recriminations.
The three kids were certainly gushed over by the braintrust. In a suddenly pervasive “Blueprint for the Future” publicity blitz that seemed to coincide with a “never too early to renew your season tix for next year” ad blitz, there was invariably a prominent member of the front office expressing oh so much excitment about the talent and upside glory of Foye-Shaddy-Smith. But then the starting lineups would be announced, or we’d return to the game in progress, and who would we see hogging minutes but Troy Hudson, Mark Blount, Ricky Davis–rarely if ever mentioned in the Blueprint for the Future.
Was the organization hypocritical, stupid, or involved in some sort of massive bait-and-switch? If there was a Blueprint for the Future and the Present Sucked Out Loud, what say we launch into the Blueprint post haste? And perhaps shouldn’t that be one of the possibilities for a “right answer” that poor Randy Wittman, at his wit’s end, might contemplate as a “tweak,” if not a “re-tweak”?
Tonight, with the Wolves down a dozen midway through the third period at home to an opponent that had lost nine straight games, Wittman was still seeking. “We searched. I ain’t gonna lie to you, I was going to search even deeper,” he said after the game. But then he did something really sensible. He put Foye and McCants in the game at the same time, replacing Hudson and a stone cold (1-11 FG, 4 turnovers) Ricky Davis. Three minutes later, he subbed in Smith for Blount. He played the kids with KG, with Marko Jaric thrown in for good measure. This is an undersized but scrappy quintet that, to a man, take pride in their defense, something that most definitively cannot be said of Hudson-Davis-Blount. The Wolves spent most of their time in a zone, a defensive scheme that requires a fair amount of trust and communication and doesn’t make Garnett feel like he has to guard everybody. And for the final 15:32 of the game, those five stayed on the floor–“double or triple overtime, they weren’t coming out,” Wittman later claimed–and outscored the Indiana Pacers 35-21 en route to a 86-81 victory.
Staunch defense has been a real rarity for the Wolves recently. After building a 20-16 record with a D that allowed 95.0 points per game, they have tumbled to 7-19 over the next 26 tilts while yielding 103.6 ppg, or nearly eight points more, while scoring an average of just two points more during those last 26. Tonight, through three quarters, even the decimated Pacers (missing Marquis Daniels as well as O’Neal) were shooting a respectable 45.8%. But with the kids plus KG plus Jaric, that plummeted to 20% in the crucial 4th quarter, in which the Pacers got only 14 points, all but one from point guard Jamaal Tinsley.
Every single one of the five Wolves specifically mentioned defense in the locker room after the game. They talked about trust and communication and hustle and how good it felt. Even if this is really the start of a belated awakening, and the braintrust understands that planning for the future is simultaneously the best chance of producing a unified, dedicated effort that could extend the time in which the Wolves stay within sniffing distance of a playoff spot, there will be many ugly moments. Foye is out of position at the point, McCants is playing on a leg and a half, and Smith is woefully undersized. But defensive intensity and genuine goodwill among teammates can be enough to beat sub-mediocre teams and that’s what happened in the second half tonight. The new quintet was tickled by the novelty, and genuinely relieved that shroud draped over the entire squad as a result of its disappointments and putrid play, was being lifted, even as Indiana felt a tenth straight loss stalking their psyche.
A lot of good things happened in those final 15 minutes, but what I won’t forget is consecutive offensive possessions early in the process, just after Indiana had taken its biggest lead at 46-60 and before Smith entered the game. There was a bit of confusion in the offense, bad spacing and unsure ball control near the very top of the key. McCants suddenly held the dribble, and had room for a long turnaround before the shot clock expired. Instead, he spotted Foye just a few steps away, but facing the hoop, and quickly dished to him as, almost in the same motion, Foye rose up and nailed the 25-foot trey. Less than 30 seconds later the Wolves were in transition, Foye dribbling with the ball at the top of the left lane when he suddenly zipped it up near the hoop, too line-drive oriented for a classic alley-oop, to McCants going hard to the hole from the opposite baseline. As McCants slamed it home, Indiana called timeout, their lead suddenly below double-digits, and a smiling McCants came over and briefly locked arms with Foye.
2. The Steady HandsWhether they start together or arise as a duo off the bench, Foye and Marko Jaric are simply too complementary of each other’s strengths and weaknesses right now not to play together. Jaric has the fundamentals–he understands the floor game–but not the sublime confidence. When he’s feeling okay about his place in the cosmos, he has a nice intuitive feel about when to push the pace in transition and when to hold up; when to drive and dish and when to pick and roll. Yes, he spaces out on defense occasionally but more often he’s doing something smart, and his gambles generally carry decent odds of success. Foye needs to play with a backcourt mate that can dribble, defend, and provide positive role modeling, but not dominate, especially in terms of shooting, and especially not in crunchtime. Foye has the inner arrogance Jaric lacks.
KG is obviously a boon to whatever teammates accompany him to the floor, but as I’ve said before, there is a genuine affection between him and McCants that helps McCants remain patient and within himself, a crucial ingredient in these trying times when McCants doesn’t have the pure athleticism that saw him through last year. Who would have thought even a year ago that McCants would be the crunchtime glue guy, the Hassell/Madsen type doing the little things, but there he was in the 4th quarter, taking only one of his team’s 20 shots but grabbing 5 of their 12 boards and committing three fouls to ensure the Pacers didn’t get anything easy–and Indiana shot 3-15 FG for the period. Foye had 9 points, Jaric 4 assists, Craig Smith jousted with Ike Diogu, and KG commanded all the attention. McCants, he was just there, a +18 in 28:52 of play of a five-point victory.
3. On the FlyGarnett was 3-8 FG without a layup as the Wolves shot 39% and trailed 35-42 at halftime. In the first 5:23 of the 3rd period, before the kids came with the bailout, he hit four layups and scored all his team’s points to keep them in the game. At that point his three teammates other than Jaric–Blount, Davis and Huddy–were a combined 3-20 FG and showed no desire to compete.
In what may become a regular feature as long as he is getting 10+ minutes a game, here is the Troy Hudson defensive dead weight measure for tonight: Indiana scored 28 points in the 12:23 Huddy played and 53 points in the 35:37 that he didn’t.
The Wolves finally cut Eddie Griffin loose before the game. Asked to comment by a media member who spun the question as one less distraction bothering the Wolves, Wittman instead was sincerely sorry to see Griffin go, said he was a good kid at heart, and wished him the best down the road. It was a classy gesture.
In keeping with yet another disturbing recent trend, Minnesota was -9 in rebounding, including an 11-25 disadvantage in the second and third periods. Yet Indiana had only 7 second-chance points (to 16 for the Wolves) and a measley 20 points in the paint (to Minnesota’s 30). Think they missed Jermaine O’Neal?
Finally, Wittman allowed himself to think about being just a game out of the playoffs and going on a five-game road trip after losing 12 of their last 13 away from Target Center. Three of those games–at Golden State, the Lakers and Sacramento–are with teams involved in that scrum for the final three playoff spots. “This is a huge trip for us,” the coach said.
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